Messages in this thread | | | From | "Jacob Hawley" <> | Subject | Re: question about sblive and linux | Date | Tue, 12 Jan 1999 20:07:25 -0800 |
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Not an easy question to answer.
Short Answer: Under DOS/Windows it is about 98% compatible.
Long Answer: The PCI bus does not support ISA IRQ/DMA requests. In addition, the I/O ranges that are typically used for Sound Blaster (220h - Basic Audio, 680h - WaveTable, 200h for Joystick) are not supported in the PCI config space.
So, what we end up having to do is a lot of work to emulate and trap these I/O ranges, and to respond to the IRQ/DMA requests all the while maintaining the proper timing characteristics of the PCI bus. It is a very delicate balance between the driver and the chip in-order for this to function properly. However this is a requirement of our because we are makers we have to maintain "Legacy" compatibility. To games, and in fact to most of the test programs available this works perfectly. We have found a couple of instances where the support does not work properly, these are primarily with VIA PCI chipsets.
Needless to say Sound Blaster wouldn't work on non-Intel platforms anyway, because the I/O ranges would not be applicable in an Alpha, CISC or RICS processors. This is a fundamental problem that needs to be looked at in any driver the Creative develops, it is very difficult for Creative to walk away from "Sound Blaster Compatibility".
Jake
-----Original Message----- From: Jakub Gwozdz <gwozdziu@uci.agh.edu.pl> To: Jacob Hawley <jhawley@creaf.com> Cc: Linux (Kernel Reflector) <linux-kernel@vger.rutgers.edu> Date: Tuesday, January 12, 1999 2:33 PM Subject: Re: question about sblive and linux
>On Tue, 12 Jan 1999, Jacob Hawley wrote: > >> Currently the answer is no. We are actively developing a driver, but it will >> take some months before it is ready. My suggestion to you is that if you want a >> sound card that works I would suggest one of the ISA or Sound Blaster PCI >> (formerly Ensoniq) products. These already have drivers available in the >> kernel. > >So... SBLive isn't compatible with SB16 (and earlier), is it? > >Jakub Gwozdz > > >- >To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in >the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu >Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/ >
- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
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